 Wednesday, August 13, 2014
The ritual has begun, Satan’s work is done, 666 the number of the beast. Sacrifice is going on tonight. I’ll possess your body and I’ll make you burn . . . I have the power to make my evil take its course. Chilling words from a satanic cult ritual? No, the words to a 1982 heavy metal song/album entitled The Number of the Beast, by the British band Iron Maiden. (They named themselves after a bloody, medieval torture device, a coffin with nails embedded inward.) Steve Harris of the band claimed that the lyrics came to him after watching the occult-themed movie “Damien: Omen II.” (Nicko McBrain, the band’s drummer, became a Christian in 1999.) Bruce Dickinson, who screamed the demonic lyrics, causing concern among Christians (including me) thirty years ago, is now an international jet airplane pilot for British world Airlines. (Remind me not to fly them!) He has his own airplane leasing fleet. As a crafty and successful business executive today he refurbishes old airplanes and leases them. One certainly can be glad Dickinson has become more mentally mainstream, but for those of us who lived through and survived the satanic-themed songs of decades past (Slayer, Deicide, et al.) there are memories of kids who took bands like Iron Maiden all-too seriously. It may have been make-believe to Dickinson and the boys, but it provided a slippery slope to the demonic world for many impressionable young minds. Those kids, strung out on drugs and flashing satanic salute signs at Iron Maiden concerts, aren’t piloting planes today. Most aren’t entrepreneurs with millions in the bank. Their lives were ruined, at least in some part, because they took such lyrics as a liturgy of evil. Bruce has mellowed. Great. But he should pay back some of his fortune to drug rehab centers and Christian deliverance ministries who are still picking up the pieces of his “Beastly” musical theater.
An encouraging word: WATCH YOUR WORDS
“You must rid yourselves of . . . filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8). That rule leaves out much of the music, movies, and other forms of entertainment that are popular today. It also censors far too many current Christian conversations.. It’s become cool, hip, “progressive” and “enlightened” for some millennial, and older, believers in Christ to flaunt their supposed liberties with coarse conversation. But God’s word sternly denounces such laxness of spiritual propriety. Be careful to watch your words, the ones you speak and the ones you hear.
Bob Larson has trained healing and deliverance teams all over the world to set the captives free and Do What Jesus Did� (Luke 4:18). You can partner with Bob and support this vision to demonstrate God’s power in action by calling 303-980-1511 or clicking here to donate online.
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